Kenneth Charles Ellingsworth, life-long resident and ambassador for Delray Beach as the executive director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce for more than three decades, died May 29. He was 84.
Mr. Ellingsworth gave tirelessly to his home town, his son recalled, and served on numerous local and regional boards and panels, including six and a half years on the City Commission in the 1990s.
He was one of the founding members of the Delray Beach Historical Society. “Dad was proud of the city‘s history and he always had an interest in preservation,” recalled his son, Howard Ellingsworth, a third-generation Delray Beach native.
The elder Mr. Ellingsworth also was instrumental in transforming the Delray Affair into the giant art and craft festival it is today, by far the largest annual event in the city, drawing tens of thousands to Atlantic Avenue toward the end of the tourist season.
The Affair’s roots were in agriculture, when farmers brought their goods to town to market, but Mr. Ellingsworth helped change the direction to give a boost to local merchants in Delray Beach, his son recalled.
Mr. Ellingsworth was born on July 30, 1926, at his family’s home in Delray Beach. He graduated from Delray Beach High School in 1944 and then served in the Army Air Force in England and Europe from 1944 through 1946.
After the service, he attended Florida State University, where he was graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1951.
After graduation, he worked at various jobs, including several years with the Commercial Credit Corp in Jacksonville and Lakeland, before accepting in 1959 the post as executive director of the Delray Beach Chamber, where he served for the next 33 years until his retirement.
As a youth, he loved the beach. He told his children of how excited the entire town would get when the “blues were running.” “The sharks would herd them toward shore, and Dad and the others caught them by tossing in a hooked line with a white rag on the end of it. The blues would strike at anything. The whole town would come down to the beach for a big barbecue,” Howard Ellingsworth said.
In his capacity as executive director of the Delray Chamber, Mr. Ellingsworth was a founding member or participated in the founding of the Delray Economic Leaders Political Action Committee Council of 100, Leadership Delray Beach, Atlantic Avenue Association, Delray Art League, the Florida Tennis Championship and the Delray Beach Historical Society.
He also was active in local government, serving on the city commission for six and one half years, including two as vice mayor. He also served as chairman of the South Central Regional Waste Water Treatment and Disposal Board, the Metropolitan Planning Board, the Delray Beach Housing Authority and chairman of the Delray Beach Charter Review Committee.
He served on the boards of the Florida Chamber of Commerce Executives, Discover Palm Beach County, Leadership Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County Development Board, the committee to bring Florida Atlantic University to Boca Raton, Delray Beach Library Association, Atlantic Avenue Task Force Committee, past president of the Delray Beach National Little League and past chairman of the Delray Beach Sister Cities Committee.
Mr. Ellingsworth was awarded the Expanding & Preserving Our Cultural Heritage Community Service Award and the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce Life Achievement Award.
His wife of 52 years, Elizabeth, died in 2009. Mr. Ellingsworth is survived by sons Howard Ellingsworth, Gray Guthrie, Lee Guthrie and Grant Guthrie; daughter Lindy Edwards; granddaughters Sofia Ellingsworth and Lauren Guthrie; grandsons Coleman Ellingsworth, David Roland, Jr., Wells Guthrie, Scott Guthrie, Gray Guthrie, Jr., and Brian Guthrie; four great-grandchildren and his brother, Norman Ellingsworth.
Services were held June 11 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Delray Beach. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in his memory to the Delray Beach Historical Society, 3 NE First Street, Delray Beach, or to St. Paul’s.
— Staff Report
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